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Welcome to Kings Park Online Vol.
V Rolling Issues
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Lighting The Menorah |
By Ken Kraska
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As the sun began to set on a crisp Sunday
afternoon, members of the
community gathered
at Veterans' Square to illuminate the town's Menorah. Rabbi Seth Sternstein
addressed the group of on lookers and in his presentation he
explained the history and tradition of the lighting. After the
ceremony the Rabbi invited everyone back to the Temple for some warm
refreshments and holiday music.
12/22/2005 |
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The Meaning of Christmas |
By Maureen Allen
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North of the
Library and near the intersection of Church street and Old Dock Road
- on St. Joseph's church property, you will see the Nativity scene -
the True Christmas Meaning.
Thousands of years ago -
revealed by prophets - Emmanuel was born. The traditional date for
Christmas is always December 25. Luke 2 - 11.12 An angel said,
"This very day in King David's hometown, a Savior was born for you.
You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby
clothes and lying on a bed of hay "
Christmas is the Christian
holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Because the holiday is so widely celebrated, there are many ways to
celebrate it. People often give each other gifts, and many cultures
have special foods that they eat at this time. Special songs are
sung about the coming of Christ. Let's celebrate Jesus with a
joyful heart.
12/19/2005 |
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KPPC
Discussion? |
By Ken Kraska
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Merriam Webster's Definition of DISCUSSION
Pronunciation: di-'sk&-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : consideration of a question in open and
usually informal debate
2 : a formal treatment of a topic in speech or
writing
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The prospective purchaser of
the Kings Park Psychiatric Center Property, Cherokee Arker
Kings Park is taking a different approach to dealing with local
residents than their predecessors. Unlike the previous bidders who
took the bull by the horn, so to speak and met face to face with the
people, Arker is attempting to remain low key. Using full page
advertisements and calling the letters and emails sent to them
"discussions" appears to be their public relations department way of
appeasing the residents.
Based on comments from residents and local
civic group members the community is certainly not buying into
Cherokee Arker's public relations ploy. The Kings Park Neighbors'
Association is still holding fast on to their demand, the State of
New York should "stop the sale and clean up their mess".
With their
current meeting notice, the Kings Park Civic Association has sent
the following invitation: "Cherokee/Arker and “All” Levels of
government, will be requested to attend the meeting." Their hope is
to get as many local, county, state and federal officials in one
place to once and for all address the community's concerns.
The KPPC property is still in a limbo state and a closing date has
yet to be announced.
12/05/2005 |
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KPPC Development |
By Ken Kraska
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In 1996 the State of New
York closed the doors on the Kings Park Psychiatric Center, creating
an economic vacuum in the community. Over the past several years we have been
poked and prodded by developers who would like to redevelop the now
spoiled grounds of the KPPC. The latest developer to step up to the plate is The
Arker Companies.
Arker coupled with an associate company, Cherokee Development
have launched a new website:
www.kingsparktomorrow.com. The purpose of this new web site is
to introduce their organization and their plan for Kings Park. Unfortunately,
no formal development plan was found on their web. The only place
any mention of a plan was made with their Brownfield Application at
the beginning of the year. Included in their application was their
plan to build 1,800 housing units.
None the less, the Arker web
site indicates they are willing to listen and they are soliciting
the community's comments.
SEND THEM YOUR COMMENTS!
Since we can't be sure if
any comments they receive will be posted for public review, when submitting
your opinion, please forward a copy to:
KPPC@kingsparkonline.com and we will post your comment on our site.
Use the following email links to send your opinion
To: BOTH to Arker/Cherokee & KingsParkOnline.com
Click Here
To: ONLY to KingsParkOnline.com
Click Here
To: ONLY to Arker/Cherokee
Click Here
Please note: Kings Park Online
does NOT disclose or display any name or email address.
10/12/2005 |
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Your
Opinions...
The
opinions expressed here are those of our subscribers and not
necessarily the views of KingsParkOnline. All opinions are
posted as received. Submissions which are not germane to the
topic will be deleted. Some submissions may be edited for
publishing. |
Dear Cherokee-Arker:
What I would like to see on the KPPC site is a mix of uses that
preserve the buildings and open spaces.
The buildings should be used for a combination of office,
research, education, assisted living, luxury condos, studio
apartments and 1 bedroom apartments. To avoid harming the school
district the affordable dwellings should be designed for singles
and couples, not young families with children. Also some
buildings should be used for the YMCA, a Kings Park Heritage
Museum annex, a fire substation, and similar uses. The buildings
north of St. Johnland could be used as a restaurant/catering
hall and inn.
The buildings should be restored and adapted to new uses. No one
makes such high quality buildings anymore, even the so-called
AAA office space on Long Island. These buildings will look
better than any replacements. Further, the buildings and the
open spaces are an important part of Kings Park’s heritage.
Moreover, the buildings concentrate development instead of
spreading it out over the natural landscape.
The boulevard and streets should be preserved as well. As a sign
of good faith, you should plant trees on the boulevard right
away. You should also sweep the boulevard and clean up the
sidewalks.
The development should not be gated, except for small areas
around the buildings.
No stores or similar businesses should be there. The site is not
big enough to warrant its own neighborhood shopping center. And
the site should not be developed with enough density to justify
retail on-site. The site is already adequately served by the
businesses in San Remo, Ft. Salonga and downtown Kings Park. We
don’t want 25A to become a Jericho Turnpike.
The open space along 25A and opposite the middle school should
be restored to open fields. Openness is a rare resource these
days, and will be even more scarce in the future. The stretch of
highway is a relief from the crowded nature of our part of the
region. Additionally, it would help create an grand entrance
effect to the center of the campus.
The non-wooded open spaces should be used things like an apple
orchard (Richter’s is bound to close), Christmas tree farm, a
vegetable farm (Johnson’s is bound to close), a plant nursery, a
horsemanship school, an environmental education center, habitat
protection, trails, and the like. The wooded areas should be
preserved for habitat, groundwater protection, and some
sensitive trails.
With the proper amounts of these uses in the right locations you
should be able to have a profitable investment that actually
makes Kings Park better in the future instead of worse. We will
have preserved the open character of the community, and avoided
negative fiscal and traffic impacts. Yet the employees and
residents of the campus will stimulate local businesses. |
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As a resident of Kings Park for
more years than I care to mention, I wish they would just
leave that property alone. We don't need anyone else dumping
on the town. It's fine the way it is.
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RE: Enhance the open space and mature growth forest which
currently exists on the site and provide increased public
recreation areas;
I'm sorry, but there are no possible ways to 'enhance' open
space. It is open, it is natural, it is pristine.
By placing a number of homes, stores, office space,
factories and whatever on this property, you will not
enhance anything.
You will destroy, mitigate, tarnish, pollute, plunder, plow,
cut, ravage, pave, trim, crush and other wonderful things,
but you will not in any way enhance.
Be honest.
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